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Thursday, August 3, 2017

04/08/2017: Innovation award nominees: Ace Aquatec

A lot of stunning technology is launched and presented at the exhibition Aqua Nor, Norway, but few are stunning in the same sense as the groundbreaking
fish stunning technology from Ace Aquatec

An Ace Aquatec stunner can be seen here at Swiss AlpineImage credit: Ace Aquatec

Their electric stunner renders fish
unconscious before they even leave the water – decreasing fish stress levels and
offering a more humane alternative to traditional mechanical stunners.

In traditional stunning systems there is a literal fish out of water-problem.
After taking the fish out of the water they live and thrive in, they get pumped
out of the water and then stunned by pneumatic, percussive or electric devices,
often mechanical ones. The drawbacks associated with these methods are many.

• There are problems with fish that differ in size – some fish are not properly
stunned.
• The fish is stressed, triggering cortisol to release into their body – which
in turn lowers quality of the filet.
• There is a significant limit to how many fish it is possible to stun in a
given time – often one at a time.
• The systems are often mechanical – requiring spare parts and repairs.
• Mechanical systems are also prone to downtime.

Ace Aquatec claims to have found the solution to all these problems, and focus
especially on fish welfare and humane stunning and killing of the fish in their
presentation of the technology.

An unwanted compromise
“We saw that fish farmers had to compromise between efficiency and humane
stunning. Our system stuns 100 percent of the fish, every time. It also stuns them in
the seawater – so they are not stressed before they are rendered unconscious.
Some methods of slaughter cause fish to die over long periods of time – we
wanted to improve this process for aquaculture and wild fishing vessels, for
all species including crustaceans”, says Executive Manager Director Nathan
Pyne-Carter.
Pre-pump stunning
Of course there are other electrical stunning technologies on the market. But
no one else can offer stunning before the fish is transported through the pump
towards the processing line. Typically electric stunners are used after the
fish is already on a dry conveyor belt – on their way to be blead. By this time
they have both suffered and been stressed.

No harm to the fish
It has taken the engineers at Ace Aquatec close to 10 years to perfect the
electric current. Too much, and you damage the flesh. If you stun side to side
you can create a current that transfers from fish to fish. Too low and the fish
is not properly stunned. Ace Aquatec can now show independent research studies
that document both that there is no damage to the fish flesh or skin, and that
the fish is 100 percent unconscious before bleading and slaughtering. “We’re not
worried about being copied for quite some time. This is precision work and
finding the right settings and equipment is extremely hard”, says Pyne-Carter.

Many other applications
The market opportunities for Ace Aquatec seem to be almost endless. Since the
technology works regardless of fish size, it is also transferrable to many
farmed species other than salmon and trout, such as yellowtail, cod, seabass,
seabream, halibut and turbot. And, at a lower setting, the system can be used
as an anesthetic for vaccinations. It has also been adapted to stunning
crustaceans and prawns. The system has only one limitation when it comes to
stunning rates; the flow speed of the pumping system. How much you get out of
the technology depends on the pumping system used by the fish farmer.

On the nomination
“We think it is really exciting to be nominated for the award. An
acknowledgment by such a prestigious body, accompanied by such fantastic
companies such as the other nominees, is really a recognition we appreciate. We
owe our greatest thanks to our customers. They’ve helped us refine and further
develop our technology every step of the way. The final product is nothing more
than an expression of what they’ve told us they need.” Ace Aquatec will be
demonstrating one of their pre-pump systems on the stand of their Norwegian
distributor, Sterner AS, located at stand D-324.
For more information contact:

International Aquafeed magazineThe team at International Aquafeed magazine will be in attendance at Aqua Nor 2017, amongst the industry and reporting on the event. Print copies of the magazine will be located on the media desk, available to attendees of the show. We hope to see you there!

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